It’s time again to take a look at three Blackberry themes in our ongoing Theme Review Wednesdays series. Today we’re going to check in with the latest from Hedone Design, another offering from BlackBerry Theme Park, and one from JC Designs. We’re on a Curve/88xx kick, so that’s what you’ll see in the three reviews to come. Hopefully you find something you like.
Underwater
This theme from Hedone Design caught my eye immediately. It’s aesthetically pleasing, which is one of the major determining factors in a theme. The blue looks sharp, and it doesn’t hurt that animated fishies swim by your home screen every so often. The icons on the top of the screen are out of the way, so the full visual of this theme can be appreciated.
That said, I’m a bit disappointed that the fishies do not appear on the applications menu. It’s just the blue water background. That’s good, of course, because it means no icons are obscured by the background — which, as anyone who reads these things regularly knows, rubs me the wrong way. Aesthetics are important, but are always secondary to functionality. Thankfully, the Underwater theme is quite functional.
A bonus for Bold users: if you have Today Plus icons like Calendar and Messages on your home screen, this theme will drop them down for you when you’re hovering. This is quite a neat feature. Certainly one I’d like to see utilized on more themes in the future. It combines aesthetics and functionality, which is ideal for a BlackBerry theme.
You can get the Underwater theme at the BBGeeks Store. That’s the link for the Curve. They’ve got them for all different platforms. OS 4.5 or above is required.
Twilight
Stephanie Meyer lit up the bestseller and the box office charts with Twilight. Now BlackBerry Theme Park has brought it over to our favorite mobile device. The theme is pretty basic, featuring five icons on the main screen, on the bottom, and a standard applications menu. The nuances of this theme are what make it or break it, though.
On both the home screen and the application menu you’ll see some artwork from the book. That serves the aesthetic aspect of the theme. Though I haven’t read the book, nor have I seen the movie, I have to admire the artwork. It’s well-done and I can see how fans of Meyer would be attracted to it. However, when it comes to functionality there is something to be desired.
On the application menu, as you can see, the icons totally obstruct the artwork. More than anything, this puts the plain water background of the Underwater theme in better perspective. No, there’s nothing special going on there, but that’s fine. The applications menu is made to host a full screen of icons. Artwork, as I’ve learned in doing these reviews, doesn’t really fit here.
Still, if you’re a fan you can get the theme at BBThemePark.
Retro
Call me old-fashioned, but I absolutely love the Retro theme from JC Designs. It’s simple, straightforward, and most importantly, easy to read. In the world of design, the basi black text on white background gets pushed to the side. Yet it is favored by more people than any other scheme. So why do we have so few themes with white backgrounds and black text? Aesthetics, of course.
Yet the Retro theme is quite pleasing to the eye, just not in that in-your-face kind of way. While the Underwater theme is sleek, Retro’s beauty is in its simplicity. Plus, this means that there is more room for functionality. Retro certainly delivers in that category. Whether you prefer it in Zen or Today, the theme is easy to navigate and, most importantly, easy to read. If you’re in search of a simple theme without tons of bells and whistles, this could be the one you’ve been looking for.
You can get the Retro theme over at the store for $7. That’s a link to the Zen, but it’s also available in Today. It requires OS 4.2.2 or higher.
